The Shadows Within Me
by Gikai
Summary: Nira has always been fascinated by the Realm of Light, but being a Twili, she cannot go to such a place. But when Zant, the would-be King who was passed over for Midna, offers Nira the chance to see the Realm of Light for herself in exchange for helping him usurp the throne, she is more than willing to accept. Watch as her story unfolds while the world descends into shadow.


Hello, light dweller. Surprised? I know plenty about your kind and this land you so affectionately call Hyrule. I may be from what the royal family of Hyrule knows as the Twilight Realm, but I've experienced more of your home than most of the denizens of your own world. I'm sure you've also heard the legend of Zelda and the hero of the tale, Link. You've heard of two of my people, the "usurper king" Zant and the titular "twilight princess" Midna. So, I guess you're wondering, where do I fit in all of this? Well, you're lucky I'm in a good mood, so I guess I'll tell you a little about myself.

My name's Nira, and, if you somehow haven't figured it out by now, I'm a Twili. Yes, those "shadow folk from another dimension." However you people comprehend it is fine. Like the two Twili you know, I'm also of the royal households. Oh, right, you wouldn't know of all the minute details. I suppose that I'll have to bore you with a little bit of our politics for you to understand exactly where I come from. You see, the Twilight Royalty is made up of twelve different houses. I'm a member of House Inai, one of the lower houses. There's three high houses, which most of our rulers are part of. Yeah, I know that the number three seems to be a common occurrence in your realm. Why would you expect it to be any different here? Well, it isn't, but I digress. Zant and Midna were of one these high houses, House Kyharian. They're actually siblings, though this isn't ever brought up. Anyway, their father was getting old, and so the selection process began. So obviously they were the two main candidates for the throne, as House Mavoko didn't have any eligible candidates and House Dynyga's only candidate was simply too weak and frail to take on the rigorous responsibility of ruling an entire tribe and dealing with any newcomers that appeared. I _was_ eligible, but the chances of me becoming ruler were about as likely as a deku baba uprooting itself and growing wings. I'd tell you more, but I'm boring myself with this political babble. My patience is about as short as my imp body.

Oh, yeah, right. I forgot that part. You know how Midna was cursed throughout the story until the very end? Well, it's not just some random spell. It's an actual ailment that exists among my people. Those afflicted with it have a very distinct appearance among other Twili, and are either incapable of any magical feats or struggle immensely to access and use it. The disease is very rare, though, so not many in our history have been what we call "imps." I just had to be one of the unlucky ones.

Enough about that. I suppose you aren't here to listen to politics and diseases. You're here for a story, and a story I shall give. Trust me, it's long, but it's well worth it. Much of my side of the story is kept from your puny minds by that goddess Hylia. Of course you might have heard a bit of the Twili as a whole and our "Interloper" ancestors. Those goddesses of yours though keep many secrets hidden, including my existence and my king's story.

You ask who my king is? What a ridiculous question! That's Zant, of course! He may be known to you as the "usurper king" but he is far from that. He should have been our ruler, but he was too 'ambitious' for the council. Seriously, what kind of logic is that? Being ambitious is better than being lackluster. Though that whole council is just a bunch of do-nothings, anyway.

I think that's enough for now. You'll learn plenty about Zant and me in good time. You'll just have to be more patient than me, even if that isn't saying much.

* * *

 **Well, it's about time for Nira's debut on my profile! Only a year after I created her. Oops.**

 **I know, I have so many other stories that desperately need updates. But with _Myths_ being now declared abandoned, unsure whether to even continue _A World of Miracles_ , being stuck in a huge rut with _Don't Forget Me_ , having lost all my documents for almost anything else a while ago, _Scimitar of the Desert Goddess_ by Ganondora being long finished, and this day being the one-year anniversary of my creation of Nira (yes, her birthday is July 15), I thought it would be a good idea to get around to writing this one.**

 **Now, I know this wasn't the best chapter ever, but I needed to throw in some exposition of sorts before truly delving into Nira's story. So sorry for that, but I promise things will get better as it goes along, trust me! Please?**

 **I already have some thanks to give, and it's not even a chapter in. Shocking, but there are two people on here that are very precious to me that have contributed so much to this in their own ways: Ganondora and Mazoku Ghirahim, both on Fanfiction. They are the most amazing people I have ever met and are excellent writers in their own right. As far as specific thanks go, I have to thank Ganondora for her portrayal of Nira in her story, _Scimitar of the Desert Goddess_ , and Mazoku Ghirahim for the title of this story. Without you two, I never would be where I am today, and I can never express enough how much you two mean to me.**

 **Some trivia, because I love doing this in my other Pokémon-related stories, so why not bring that here:**

 **-First off, the "legend of Zelda" pun was so intentional. I could not just simply pass it up!**

 **-Nira actually originated from a Hyrule Warriors-esque roleplay in a Discord server with both Ganondora and Mazoku Ghirahim, as well as a couple other friends of mine who aren't on FanFiction, all of whom I thank for the wonderful memories from said roleplay. She has since developed from there, most of the time because I have had her get drunk on Noble Pursuit on more than one occasion and decide to come up with some random detail that she lets slip in her inebriated state.**

 **-The name "Nira" is actually a real life name apparently meaning "light, or furrow, plowed field". For once, I didn't choose names based on their meanings. I just randomly tried coming up with something that sounded Twili-esque, and this was the result.**

 **-My version of "Nira", unlike the actual name, is pronounced NEAR-uh, for anyone who wants to know.**

 **-Since I have so much freeway due to the very limited information on the Twili's society other than their ruler is elected (until the encyclopedia came out, which was Twil-vana for me), I've decided to go crazy with what I'm doing with it. The way the royal family works I have based largely on elective monarchies in our world. It seemed the best fit from what is shown in the original games. Also, the idea of Midna and Zant being siblings was not my own; it was Ganondora's. But I kept it, of course. So if you don't like that, well, I'm sorry!**


End file.
